Apple Maps found more accurate than Google Maps, Waze in test

PC Magazine columnist John C. Dvorak conducted a driving directions test between Apple Maps, Google Maps, and the crowd-sourced Waze app to see which of the three performed best at least in his own area: California. It turns out that despite the controversy surrounding Apple’s contender, Apple Maps actually bested Google and Waze in Dvorak’s test.

Dvorak used two other people to test. He rode in one car using Google Maps, Leo LaPorte of TWiT was in another using Waze, and writer Glenn Rubenstein was in the third car using Apple Maps. On their trip they made multiple stops and ultimately declared Apple’s service the champion because of its directions and location accuracy. He explains that at certain stops one app would say to go in one direction when it should have been another or one app would say “arriving at destination” before he had gotten there yet. Minor details make the difference here.

Dvorak, mind you, has never been any type of Apple fanboy. Quite the opposite he’s infamous for predicting the fall of the Macintosh and iPhone, neither of which have come true. “I have loved Google Maps until recently,” he wrote. “I’m noticing that it is getting a little ragged.”

This test sheds a bit more light on the Apple Maps situation. There’s no denying that it does have its faults in many areas (I spot a couple myself here and there,) but perhaps the controversy shortly after its release was exaggerated. It seems like you’ll have to absorb some risks on whichever mapping solution you choose.